


Where I Will Always Find You

by Fiercest



Series: Steady as the Beating Drum [3]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Gen, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-15
Updated: 2015-02-15
Packaged: 2018-03-12 23:14:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3358871
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fiercest/pseuds/Fiercest
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>[Prequel to 'Steady as the Beating Drum'] - In the midst of the chaos generated by the Children of Time, Donna steals away deep into the Tardis to ask for one final request.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Where I Will Always Find You

In the midst of the chaos generated by the children of time Donna stole away deep into the Tardis.

Far past the Doctor's room, Martha, Jack, Rose and finally hers, was another console. The Doctor had explained to her, when she'd stumbled upon it, that no room, once created, ever disappeared from the ship. And that once he regenerated the old control room was shuffled off into the ether.

She stood there now, breathing deeply and trying to commune with the Old Girl herself. She'd seen the Doctor do it countless times- just close his eyes and speak to their shared psyche. Donna willed her to listen now, if only-

The anxious woman was startled out of her trance by the Doctor- or rather, his Duplicate.

"Donna." The newly minted human being stepped forward with his arms open.

"Woah there, Earthboy," she smiled ruefully in spite of herself. "Better keep those hands to yourself."

"You know what's going to happen don't you?" And once again Donna was struck by how much he looked like her. He was mimicking that uncertain way she stood when she was nervous; one hip cocked out and arms crossed over his chest and shoulders hunched up to his ears.

"Yeah, got your big ol' Time Lord brain. I know what you know."

"You sure we're talking about the same thing because sometimes-"

"Weeeell," she stressed in that jolly way of his, "I'd like to think we can stay on the same page for more than a moment at a time now. Otherwise it's just not worth it."

The Duplicate's eyes grew dark, his tone sharp. "It's not. Nothing is worth this."

"Don't you worry about me. I've got it all figured out. I can think of things the two of you would never have dreamed of! Remember?"

He saw right through her, just like the original. "Do you think I'm stupid?"

"Weeeeell…"

"This isn't the time for a joke!"

"It never is, that's never stopped  _you_  before."

"Stopped  _him_."

"You're right."

Awkward silence pervaded the space.

"I know you love him," the human Doctor confided with guilty countenance. "Just as you have his memories from before his hand was cut off, I have yours from until the second you made me. I feel what you feel."

"And I feel what the two of you do," sighed sad old Donna, "I feel how much he loved Rose."

"He's going to leave me with her," he said with a hitch in his voice, "Isn't that great?" Sarcasm suited the human no better than the alien.

"Oh sweetheart, of course it is." She reassured him.

"It is! I hope it is, I- I just want to make her happy…" he trailed off, "but I'm not the Doctor." Some of Donna's insecurity leaked through the cracks in his voice.

"No, you're not," declared Donna forcefully. "You've got a little of me in there too. And a little of something new. You're your own man. Don't you f-f-forget it." It wasn't the metacrisis that made the woman stutter, it was the hitches in her breath which she could no longer keep at bay. Donna hugged herself as tightly as she could, trying to remain calm.

And the Duplicate didn't have enough of her in him, to know how to comfort her.

Hysteria simmered under the surface, while tears streamed down her face. The glow of the Tardis' mainstay stabilizer units warmed her face with the Old Girl's comforting heat. "Don't," she gasped up at the ceiling. "Please don't let him forget me."

The Doctor's Duplicate watched in misery as his very best friend begged the ship for mercy.

"I know it's so selfish, but I know him. I know-… I know-!" She approached the console and began pressing buttons and pulling levers seemingly at random. A device much like a periscope came down from the ceiling. She laid her hand on the glass scanner that peered into infinity and then kissed it, fogging up the lens.

"Just," she whispered into the dusty air, "make sure he finds me, whenever he needs me.  _And I do mean whenever, missy._ He needs me to stop him sometimes. And if there's no one else, if he's on his own, just bring him to me  _please._  So even if I've forgotten, he'll see me and he'll remember. I know what's going to happen. And I also know what matters most."

That he's happy.

There was a hum, like a cheerful cat purring in front of a fire.

The Tardis would honor the woman who made her Doctor happy.

**Author's Note:**

> This story is a prequel to 'Steady as the Beating Drum' wherein the Doctor and Donnas lives intersect post-series 8 in an unexpected way. Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed it.


End file.
